Tomatoes

There have been several warnings in the press recently about the tomato variety “Gardeners’ Delight” having broken down. As far as we can tell, this is due to just one batch of bad seed from a generally rather unreliable supplier. So far we have had no trouble with our tomatoes.

An example of some tomato rogues

All batches of tomato seedlings contain a proportion of ‘rogues’. Some parts of the country call them ‘jacks’. These are plants that develop with the wrong number of chromosomes. They are generally easily identified by their curled seed leaves – most characteristically the seed coat sticks on giving the seedling a horned appearance. Plants with three seed leaves or irregular leaves also need to be discarded.

Lorraine was pricking out tomatoes yesterday and made a selection of some rogues for you…. (21 April)

All plants on our nursery here at Downside are screened as they are pricked out. If an odd one gets through they are usually easily seen as they develop in their 9cm pots and discarded.

If you are growing peppers or aubergines, these need to be screened in the same way.

Whether you grow your own or buy them, remember to leave tomatoes in their 9cm pots until you can see colour on the first flower. This gives you an earlier and lower first truss. Start feeding when this first fruit is the size of a marble.

Basket (determinate) varieties will start cropping three or four weeks earlier than cordon (indeterminate) varieties. It is always worth growing two or three plants in a basket or pot for some early fruit.